Actually its an appointment with a member of that increasingly rare and almost extinct breed, a NHS dentist
I have been without a dentist for almost 2 years, after my previous practice partnership split up and they all went their seperate ways and went private
I have always had 6 monthly checkups for as long as I remember until that time and very rarely needed any treatment apart from a filling or a crown every 5 or 6 years, if that.
So it came as no surprise that last february I lost a rather large filling
I contacted NHS direct and asked for an emergency dentist in my area and they put me on the waiting list for a NHS dentist.
As I wasnt actually in tremendous agonising pain I couldnt get it done as an NHS emergency :roll:
I put up with eating on one side of my mouth and frequent use of a toothpick to extract peanuts and such from the gaping hole in my tooth until I managed to get in at my old dentists about 8 weeks ago, who had started a practice up in the old premises but for private patients only, but would carry out emergency NHS treatment.
I said that it was causing me pain this time when I rang up, so that they would treat me :wink:
When she saw my tooth she said it needed a root canal to save the tooth.
That cant be done on the NHS, only the nerve can be removed to stop the pain then it would need a privately done filling at £200 + :shock:
She could remove it on the NHS or put a temporary filling in
I settled for the temporary filling which has lasted very well so far.
This afternoon I received a phone call from a dentist about 3 miles away who asked if I was still on the waiting list for a NHS dentist. I told him I was and so I now have an appointment for monday
